


Still Dancin' With Your Demons

by violetshade



Series: Blinded In Chains [34]
Category: Avenged Sevenfold
Genre: F/M, Shads walls off his heart, nobody likes a sad Shads
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-01-02
Packaged: 2019-02-27 10:32:18
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,283
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13246359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/violetshade/pseuds/violetshade
Summary: Shads can't deal with another nightmare."Matt put on his Shadows persona like it was a suit of armor..."





	Still Dancin' With Your Demons

Zacky and Violet were startled awake suddenly by Shadows gasping for air and sitting up in bed. His chest heaved as the tears threatened in his eyes. Before she could touch him, he was up, shoving his clothes on.  
"Matt--" Violet sat up, reaching after him. Vengeance held her back.  
Wiping his eyes, he put on his backwards hat, paused like he was going to say something, but then changed his mind and left-slamming the door shut.  
"You know he has nightmares. Just leave him be. He probably needs space." Zacky settled back on his pillow and Shade nervously cuddled back up to him. Then there was a knock at the door.

  
Syn stood there, looking tired and frustrated until he saw her. Looking her up and down, he raised an eyebrow. She blushed, realizing she was in just a tshirt and underwear with no bra.  
"Sorry..." She went to put pants on and he followed her in, spotting Zacky on the bed and knowing Matt had left from there. He threw his hands in the air, "What is _with_ you three?!"  
Violet arched an eyebrow this time, "Don't think you have a lot of room to talk, Gates." She pulled on a sweatshirt and sat on the bed as Zacky slowly got dressed.  
"Hey, that was one time. And should probably stay that way," He ran a hand through his hair, eyeing her carefully, "So what happened here? Did he just watch you two again? Why did he storm out?"  
Before Violet could tell him to fuck off, Vengeance shrugged his shoulders, "No. We did mouth stuff."  
Shade laughed lightly at how cute Zacky was when he kept saying 'mouth stuff', but then got serious again when Syn folded his arms, "I don't know why he left like that. He just suddenly got up, clearly after some nightmare, and left without a word."  
"He probably had _that_ nightmare again." Syn looked at her, "He told me about your night together in Cali. He knows he needs to stop. It's just his subconscious reminding him." Gates was weirdly insightful at times. He sighed and headed for the door, "And you two. Seriously."  
  
Once he left, Zack sat closely next to her, "So what was he talking about? One time?" His morning eyes were so pretty. They stared at her questioningly with a tinge of jealousy.  
Vi cleared her throat, knowing she couldn't possibly tell him it was none of his business. He was sleeping (at this point it was pretty much present progressive) with both her and Synyster.  
"I wanted to start the 30th off with a good memory, so I created one. I fucked Matt and Jade fucked Syn on the same bed. We watched each other. It was pretty hot."  
"I bet it was," He smiled to let her know he was fine, "I'll go back to the apartment to make sure he's okay, Vi."  
  
Shadows tried to get a hold of himself but couldn't. He held it in until he walked into the apartment but then sat on the floor in the kitchen, sobbing. That's where he still was, knees up with his head buried in his arms, when the guys walked in. When he looked up, Gates offered him a hand.  
"C'mon buddy," He wrapped him in a hug, "D'you have that dream again?" Matt wiped his face and sniffled, nodding and lowering his eyes.  
"Yeah...it was so much more vivid this time, though, so much worse," He cringed, "She...she fucking cheated, like had promised to be with just me and then threw it in my face like she did it on purpose and told me she was leaving me and didn't love me anymore," This time when he started crying again, Brooks gave him a hug, handing him some Kleenex after he let him go, "That's rough, man."  
"Will somebody play COD with me until I calm the fuck down?" Despite it being 10:30 in the morning, Matt grabbed a beer and headed for the couch. Zacky agreed to join him, "Can someone get us some comfort food, stat?"  
  
Vengeance texted Shade later that day to let her know she should probably stay away until Monday, and that he'd probably be okay by then.  
  
A couple of weeks before, the band had contacted Marc Mann and Steve Bartek, the guys that had written and directed the orchestral parts for LPOH, and they were more than happy to help. So Monday the small orchestra showed up with the two and they got to work. While they recorded, the band came up with background sounds and lyrics and recorded those. They were things like Shads yelling "bitch" and whispering "don't leave me" and Shade groaning "hold me down" and "lost control."

Matt had put on his Shadows persona like it was a suit of armor and refused to be in a booth at the same time she was. He wasn't all out rude--he didn't completely ignore her, but he was distant. She completely understood, though, and let him have his space. After she was done recording the background stuff, she left Raven to do the producing for the rest of the day and went to her office to set up something at the Hard Rock Cafe and called their media department to set up the trivia give-away for 1,000 people.

  
Working with the orchestra and the two Oingo Boingo guys combined with the whole vibe of creating the song put Matt in slightly better mood. As long as he was immersed in the process, he was fine. For dinner Wednesday, they went out to celebrate the completion of the song that Synyster had started and that had taken almost three months from beginning to end. They were _ecstatically_ happy with it. Their performance would be in a week and a half.  
At the restaurant they went to, Shadows was laughing and joking as they all were--having a good celebratory time. But almost completely ignoring her. If she spoke directly to him, he'd give her a short, matter of fact answer and quickly go back to talking to anyone else. Half way through dinner, she excused herself, trying not to look disappointed.  
Zacky found her a few minutes later at the bar by herself.  
"I'm sorry, Vi. This has gotta be tough on both o' you," He rubbed her back, "It's kinda freakin' me out. I mean, he's completely ignoring it. This is what he's like, even when you're not around. Just literally built a wall around it and blocked it out. Just give it time."  
"Time. Yeah. That worked so well before." He'd never seen her like this.  
"Hey, you guys were in a really good place for awhile. What had it been, like, three months--before California? I can't believe you guys didn't fuck for that long. We can't even stay away from one another that long, it seems like," He grinned, trying to make her smile, "C'mon, I hate seeing you sad." He kissed her cheek. Her lips curved into a little smile, which made his smile bigger.

  
Back at the table, Syn leaned over to whisper at Shadows, pointing over at Zack and Vi at the bar, "Better be careful, Matt. If you don't recover fast enough, they'll wind up best friends instead of you guys. And you'll never forgive yourself."  
Shadows downed the rest of his beer and eerily put it calmly on the table. The dark, fear of god look he gave back sent shivers down Syn's spine. A second later, he was right back at laughing at something Raven said, his face totally changing. It creeped Gates out.


End file.
